Gansler alleges coordination between Brown and PAC

Campaign finance reports filed with the state are raising questions about coordination between a Super PAC and Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown’s campaign for governor.

The reports filed by Brown’s campaign and the One Maryland, One Future PAC show that both entities used the same political consultants and legal counsel and that a San Francisco firm that did opposition research for the political action committee was used in a 2006 campaign in California by Brown’s campaign manager, Justin Schall.

At issue is nearly $1 million raised by the political action committee and spent in support of electing Brown. Those donations, many of which are over $100,000, could be in violation of state law if the committee were found to be coordinating with Brown’s campaign.

Schall declined to be interviewed by phone but in email responses said “there has been no coordination” between the campaign and the political action committee.

A spokeswoman for the Gansler campaign said the connections between the two entities raises serious questions.

“Voters should find this really, really troubling,” said Katie Hill, a spokeswoman for the Gansler campaign.

The political action committee is using some of the money to run a television ad critical of Gansler.

Hill said the campaign plans to file a complaint with the Maryland State Board of Elections following the June 24 primary.

“There’s no immediate remedy to get the ad off the air,” said Hill.

State law loosely defines coordination, but in January the state elections board issued an advisory outlining eight criteria that could be used to determine whether a campaign and political action committee had worked in concert.

Among the criteria to be considered, the advisory said, was whether materials were published or expenditures were made at the suggestion of a candidate as well as the “sharing of campaign material, strategies, or information that is not generally available to the public, such as advertising, messaging, strategy, polling, research, or allocation of resources.”

Jared DeMarinis, director of candidacy and campaign finance for the elections board, said complaints would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

One Maryland, One Future PAC formed in 2013 with the purpose of making independent expenditures in the 2014 gubernatorial election. Commercials and a Facebook page operated by the group have focused solely on the race for governor, specifically supporting Brown while opposing a rival Democrat, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler.

The designation as an independent expenditure organization allows the political action committee to raise donations unfettered by current state limits of $6,000 in a four-year cycle — provided the committee’s activities are not coordinated with an individual’s campaign.

To date, One Maryland, One Future has amassed $925,000 since being formed. About 65 percent of that money came from donors who contributed $100,000 or more including: $200,000 from the Building and Construction Trades; $100,000 each from the Maryland Association for Justice, American Federation of Teachers and the labor union Mid-Atlantic Political Education Fund; and SEIU Maryland-DC Political Action Committee.

The Maryland State Education Association political action committee also contributed $75,000 to One Maryland, One Future PAC.

A number of common expenditures made by the campaign and political action committee, as well as other connections, raise questions about how independently the two groups operate.

In January, the One Maryland, One Future PAC paid San Francisco-based VR Research $20,000 for consulting services. The payment came after a summer visit to the area by at least one member of the Brown campaign.

Michael Schultz, Brown’s campaign finance director, visited the area in July 2013 and stayed at a hotel one mile from the offices of VR Research. Campaign finance records show that Schall was also reimbursed in August for a hotel that was also near the VR Research offices.

“No one on this campaign has ever met with VR Research in California or anywhere else,” Schall wrote in an email.

Schall said he never personally traveled to California and Schultz was in San Francisco for a campaign fundraiser.

Schall did not address questions about his past use of a company whose partners ultimately started VR Research.

In 2006, Schall managed the campaign of Cindy Chavez who was then a candidate for mayor of San Jose. The campaign hired Varoga & Rice to do opposition research. Mike Rice, president of VR Research, was previously a partner in the firm Varoga & Rice along with Craig Varoga.

One State, One Future PAC also paid Varoga & Associates more than $10,500 this year.

Both the campaign and the political action committee also paid to use the same political consultant — Baltimore-based Martin-Lauer Associates.

The fundraising and political consultant was paid more than $30,000 in consulting fees by the political action committee. Brown and Ken Ulman, his running mate for lieutenant governor, paid Martin-Lauer Associates $168,300 and $8,000, respectively, between 2013 and 2014, according to campaign finance records.

Additionally, Sophia Silbergeld, who is listed as the contact on a number of fundraising solicitations for the Brown-Ulman campaign, worked at the Martin-Lauer firm at the same time as Chelsea Haddaway Williams.

Williams is listed in state records as the chairwoman of the One Maryland, One Future PAC.

The political action committee also hired a Washington law firm that worked for Brown’s campaign. Reports filed by the political action committee this year show that the firm of Sandler Reiff Young & Lamb was paid nearly $5,100. Brown’s campaign paid the same firm more than $45,000 between 2013 and 2014, according to campaign finance records.

Additionally, the committee paid political consultant Susan Smith-Bauk $10,000. Smith-Bauk was paid more than $176,000 between 2013 and 2014 by Ulman, according to campaign finance records.

Schall, in an email, rejected claims of coordination saying “the people you mentioned are fundraising consultants and attorneys and have dozens of clients and we don’t control who they work for.”

“That’s silly and that’s nonsense,” said Hill, the spokeswoman for Gansler. “It’s just more proof of the apparently coordination between the political action committee and the Brown campaign.”

An earlier version of this story misidentified the source of payments made to campaign consultants Varoga & Associates. State records show that that company was paid by the One State, One Future PAC. The Daily Record regrets the error.